NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bicycles, furniture and clothing are all items blamed for causing genital injuries, which send almost 16,000 men and women to U.S. emergency rooms every year, according to a new study.

"To put this in perspective, the yearly incidence of these (injuries) is almost twice as much as dental injuries, and about the same of electrical and chemical burns," said the study's senior author Dr. Benjamin N. Breyer, an assistant professor of urology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Though television shows and viral videos may portray people getting hit in the crotch as comical, it's a serious issue. Breyer said that genital injuries can go on to cause people physical, psychological and reproductive problems later on.

In the past, most research looked at severe genital and urinary tract injuries caused by major trauma, such as car accidents. For the new study, however, Breyer and his colleagues decided to look at those injuries thought to be caused by common consumer products.

The team, which published its findings in The Journal of Urology, analyzed a national database of ER visits for injuries caused by consumer products.

For their search, the researchers identified all genital injuries to men and women 18 years old and older between 2002 and 2010. The injured body parts included - among other things - penises, testicles, bladders, kidneys and external female genitalia, such as the clitoris and labia.

Overall, 142,143 injuries sent people to an ER over the nine-year period, which worked out to about 15,794 per year - a number that didn't seem to change over time.

And with sporting items blamed for about 30 percent of the ER visits, they were the most common cause of injuries among people of all ages. The culprit sporting goods included bicycles as well as basketball, soccer, football and baseball equipment.

Breyer said one example of damage from a sporting item is people falling forward on their bicycle and landing on the center bar. He added that padding or cushioning that bar could help prevent injuries.

Other accidents involved clothing items, shaving items and bathing products - including men catching their penises in zippers or people cutting themselves while trying to shave their pubic hair.

"I was surprised to find how many injuries from bicycles, personal grooming and bathrooms there were. Those to me were unexpected," said Breyer.

AGE, SEX DIFFERENCES

Types of injuries also differed by age and sex.

Men were injured the most - accounting for about two thirds of the ER visits.

When the researchers looked at age, young people were the most often injured, with 18 to 28 year olds making up roughly 40 percent of the visits.

Older people sustained only about eight percent of the injuries, but were more likely to hurt themselves during everyday activities, such as taking a shower.

That finding suggests fall prevention may be the best way to prevent these injuries in the elderly, the authors write.

Older people were also admitted to the hospital more often than any other age group, which, according to Breyer, could reflect that age group's overall health and the severity of their injuries.

"The next step is to get a little more information on the actual injuries, what happens to the patients and the mechanism of how it happened," said Breyer.

Ultimately, he said the information can be used to craft strategies or programs to prevent genital injuries.